Alex Fefegha, Creative Technologist

Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?

I am Alex Fefegha, co-founder and head creative technologist at Comuzi. We are an experimental research agency working at the intersection of emerging technology and culture. We help our clients answer questions about the future and experiment with emerging technologies with the purpose to build a better world. We identify blind spots, coming up with high-quality research tangibles in order to develop real-world opportunities.

How and why did you get involved in tech

I got involved with tech because the sector pays well and I didn’t have to wear suits. This is the honest chance, I had no idea what goes on in the tech world when I joined. When I got older, wiser and settled with myself – I began to see the bigger picture; on how being a creative technologist has given me agency to build things that can have a cultural and social impact.

What is your experience being a POC in Tech?

In London, for a long period of time – I was very much the same face I saw in tech offices, tech conferences, tech meetups. I didn’t know how to act, I don’t drink beer but everyone did. I actually was trying to create a front and be someone else at work, that person wasn’t me. When I started being myself and being truly me, doors opened.

I have been bringing cultural aspects of who I am to the sector, an example of this is my work on racial and gender bias in regards to AI – find out more, futuresofai.com & aicheatsheet.comuzi.xyz

What advice would you give to a young person who wanted to enter tech?

The industry is big, so much going on. Think about your personality, think about what you makes you excited as an individual – for myself, I dislike the entrepreneur or founder tags. I want to be known as a maker like Sir Jonathan Ive at Apple, I am a maker, I always been involved with creativity from making music, acting in school plays and graphic design – I love making things so for me being a role that I can design, make, build, break, code, invent suited me perfectly.

So think about who you are and how you can slot in this tech sector. Make it work for you.